When Zoolander came out in 2001, Ben Stiller's over-the-top take on the fashion industry felt like an absurdly specific machination of the comedic actor's sense of humor. His supermodel, Derek Zoolander, has since become an iconic character, one that the public has been hoping would eventually reemerge. Now,15 years after we first heard the term "merman," Stiller and Justin Theroux penned a sequel for Derek and his equally ridiculous cohorts. The new film, Zoolander 2, out Friday, takes Derek to Rome, where he faces his old enemy, Jacobim Mugatu, played again by Will Ferrell. Much like the first, the sequel brings in a slew of cameos, including several major fashion designers, Justin Bieber, Sting, and Kiefer Sutherland.

Ahead of the release, we spoke with Theroux, who's split his time over the past few years working on Zoolander 2 and filming his dramatic HBO series The Leftovers. Theroux, who will also appear in the film adaptation of The Girl on the Train this fall, discussed writing the film, killing Bieber, and just how many episodes of The Bachelor are currently on his (and Jennifer Aniston's) DVR.

Theroux as Evil DJ from

Getty Images

Why was it the right time for the Zoolander sequel to finally emerge?

It's a script that could have come out five years after the original—it could have come out two years after. But in a weird way the jokes got funnier the longer we waited. We kept writing the script and then coming back to it and then things in the world would change and we'd include that. The invention of some of the new characters, like Kristen Wiig's character, those ideas–if we'd made it five years after the first one–might not have landed in the movie. There's no reason for any sequel, really, except that you want to see these characters again.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

How long were you and Ben writing the script?

A long time! I think I came on in 2008 or 2009–somewhere in there. And Ben and I rolled it around in conversation. What was it going to look like? What's the theme? How do we make it bigger and brassier and funnier? We weren't trying to compete with the first one, because we know that's such an iconic, beloved movie, but we wanted to make sure that if we did do a sequel it wasn't just trying to make one for no good reason. We wanted to make it a quality movie.

Was Justin Bieber's cameo written into the script initially?

On Bieber: "At one point we were killing a tween; now we're killing an adult man."

He was in the first page of the first draft I ever wrote. But, ironically, it was so long ago that he was like 14. So the joke even changed. At one point we were killing a tween and now we're killing an adult man. But that cameo was in there. The Sting cameo was baked in early on. There were a couple must-get cameos that we wanted, and then the other ones were just when people's schedules worked out and they could be in it.

How did you approach Bieber with the idea of murdering him?

The same way we approached Sting and said, 'Hey, we want you to be living as a monk in St. Peter's?' Every cameo was so absurd, so the way you do that is to have Ben pick up the phone and call them directly. It usually comes down to Ben cold calling them and saying, 'Hey, if you're interested….' And everyone really wanted to be a part of it. It's a nice feeling to know that you could write someone in and there was a pretty good shot of them coming.

When you bring in someone like Valentino or Alexander Wang, do they have approval over their dialogue?

Yeah. You write stuff for them, but there was nothing where anyone was like, 'I'm not saying that.' We showed them the script and said, 'This is what we want you to do,' and sometimes they would make it even funnier. Without spoiling anything, [during] that whole scene at the end, we were just barking out lines and they were repeating them and it was really funny. A lot of people's egos just went out the door. They were very kind to do what we asked them to do.

Zoolander is obviously a parody of the fashion industry, but how seriously do you think people should take fashion?

In the real world? I don't know. I just know that they shouldn't take it too seriously. People should put a little thought into it before walking out the door, but I don't think it's something to hang your day on.

Do you feel personally connected to the fashion world?

Yeah. Not the fashion world–not high fashion. But growing up in New York, that street-level fashion I'm aware of. I keep an eye on it.

And you do attend a lot of fashion shows.

Yeah, I like shows. The crazy, ridiculous, 10-minute shows. They're really fun. There's something fun about a big piece of music and people stomping down a runway with glitter and lights. And then it all goes away as quickly as it started. It's crazy because, in less than 10 minutes, it's something insane and then it's gone and you go to the next one.

It seems like you've all been having a lot of fun promoting Zoolander at various fashion events around the world.

We've been having a blast. Normally when you're promoting something a lot, sometimes you get tired. But when you're jumping around Europe with Ben, Kristen Wiig, Owen [Wilson], and Will, you spend a lot of time clutching your gut and getting a good ab workout. You laugh your ass off. They're really funny people and they make it fun. And part of that promotion we've been doing is the Instagramming and stuff with Derek, and it's really fun to write and work for these characters. It's all in service of the characters.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

So you wrote this while shooting The Leftovers?

I was actually shooting The Leftovers and dipping out of it periodically and going to Rome to shoot Zoolander since they were shooting simultaneously. I was going back and forth, which was an exercise in bizarre contrasts.

You probably couldn't have two more different tones.

It was badly needed, going to Rome to do Zoolander. There were certain points where I was at my breaking point with The Leftovers. I was like, 'Okay, if I have to weep one more time….' And then I'd go to Rome and watch Derek and Hansel goof around and it was a really nice palate cleanser.

Theroux on

Courtesy of HBO

On The Leftovers: "I've never been the guy who's like, 'I take it home with me.'"

How much does The Leftovers get under your skin?

A little bit. I've never been the guy who's like, 'I take it home with me.' There was a moment, late into the season, where I was noticing I was darkening a little bit at night. I was like, 'It will be nice when the show is over for the season. I need a vacation.' So it doesn't get under my skin. I'm not method or anything like that, but sometimes you get the scenes and you're like 'Really, Damon [Lindelof]? More of this? Can I have one scene where it's a walk in the park?' But he doesn't do that. He puts every character through their paces.

It would probably destroy you if you did this show method.

Oh my God, I'd be dead. And I would be intolerable for everyone else.

Do you like your character on The Leftovers as a person?

Yeah. I love him. He's just a good man trying to do the right thing. He's just so saddled with dysfunction. But I think at the end of the day he's a good man trying to do right by his family and himself. Damon creates these walls for him to leap over and they keep getting higher and higher. It gets exhausting.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Has The Leftovers taught you something new about humanity?

You kind of learn things as you go. You explore more deeply certain things in life that if you're not suffering from that condition you don't. You have to examine the things that the characters are. It's a wonderful thing. In the same way that Chekhov is considered a comedic writer, Damon deals with the comedy of life and what a struggle it can be. Damon definitely turns up the volume on that on The Leftovers. It's [about] the meaning of life, and it's not like our show is going to answer that question, but I think it takes a hard run at it.

Have you shot The Girl on the Train yet?

We just wrapped and that has been great. I loved both the way that story is told and the dark triptych of these three women recounting this event. And the role itself was fabulous. But I really liked that weird kind of Gaslight-y storytelling. I thought it was a really interesting approach the way that book was written, and the script was very faithful to it. The script mirrored that.

Are you a big reader typically?

I have not had a moment to read lately. It's going to sound like I haven't been reading, but I haven't had a chance to pick up a good book in a long time, because I've been either reading scripts or learning them or writing them. And so, by the time the day is done, I usually just want to click on The Bachelor and fall asleep. But I gravitate toward biographies and things like that.

Wait, are you saying you're watching the current season of The Bachelor?

No! I'm not watching the current season of The Bachelor, but I'm down I-don't-know-how-many deep on my DVR. So eventually I will catch up.

A Part of Hearst Digital Media
ELLE participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.